Montreal's 1st isn't available.

Zegras was drafted 9th, why would any team give a better ranked pick for a player out of his ELC with well known adaptation issues to the NHL?

Now if we are talking about 2 low first rounders (WIN/FLO) that's a totally diferent conversation. KH has shown he would take a young player on his 2nd contract over those.

He's probably right, however I can understand fan speculation on Zegras. MTL needs a top 6 forward and he is undeniably talented. There probably is a price Hughes would be willing to pay for him, but it might not align with what Anaheim expects.

It’s about time you start to wake up. I would much rather go after Necas or another project like Reichel, Lundell or Holloway

why would a fully rebuilding team trade their own pick away when its supposed to be top 10, and maybe even top 5??

they dont. teams dont do this.

ps2 ai does this.

zegras is having difficulties with his camp vs the team (missed trainning camp due to nego, like pk did. rememebr what happened then?)

this is what you call 'dealing from a position of weakness'

I think that will be a clear part of the expense. But I hear you.

There is what fans think and what GMs think. I was very for this deal based on culture, but I now think Zegras will be a distraction we don't need.

I now agree with you.

If they feel they are 1 important piece away from a long term competitive team they can.

yeah, but segras isnt that.

and he can be had for a bargaina yt this point.

or just wait a couple years for ufa.

Mar antoine Godin said it best on his podcast a few days ago.

Anaheim is in a similar spot to us. They have looked at their players and decided hes not a core piece. If hes not a core piece for them why would he be one for us.

I dig Godin and I ended my Athletic subscription when they let him go.

We don't "know" ****, and if Zegras had been determined not to be a part of the future, Verbeek would have shipped him off before signing this contract.

You are peddling speculation on top of speculation on top of speculation based on a "report" from Frank Seravalli who is right about Anaheim as often as I score with Victoria's Secret models.

Has Zegras' name come up in talks with Verbeek and other GMs? I'm sure it has, but if he was not seen as a fit here, he would have been Tyler Seguin'd by now.

You advance an entirely reasonable and defensible point of view here. It might surprise you to hear this said explicitly, but all of us Anaheim fans can see the rationale behind the points you raise here.

So there are three possible conclusions:

(1) You don't think he's right for you. In that case, you don't trade for him. We have no problem with that.
(2) You do think he's right for you, in which case you make a legitimate offer for him at value. We have no problem with that, either, obviously.

What Habs fans (and I'm not referring to all of them, of course, or even most of them) can't do is

(3) Think that he's right for you, and then make a silly-ass offer that in essence is an effort to steal him.

That's where our ire at BS like Jordan Harris, Jesse Ylonen and the Winnipeg and Calgary firsts comes from.

I mean, when a guy like Craig Button said that he calls Verbeek EVERY DAY about having somes informations of the Zegras situation, that's means they haves somes truths about the case............

Totally agree with you. For me a former top 10 pick changing hands with that production years 1 and 2 obviously requires a top 10 pick back plus more.

I mean, Zegras got drafted 9th overall of the Draft, but he can easily fit in the top 5 select club who include Hughes, Seider, Boldy and Caufield. And that's means absolutely nothing about his value, but that's can have a impact only if he got drafted in 2021 or more recently.

His contract is proof hes not viewed as a core piece.

A bunch of the other guys from that draft got locked into long term deals. Zegras wanted to be as well the ducks said no.

Theres no financial/cap reason for saying no they have one of the least committed caps in the league and threw out a lot of money just to make the floor to the killorns and gudas of the world.

Your coach doesnt bench a guy 6 games into his season if he isnt trying to send a message to him. Especially after making pointed comments about his defensive play in training camp.

You dont need a crystal ball to deduce that they dont believe in him as a core piece. The evidence is plain to see

He got benched once, got the message, and picked it up defensively. McTavish has been benched half a dozen times this season and had his ass busted down to the third line for weeks, is he not part of the core now too? Cronin speaks very highly about Zegras, he was very excited to come to Anaheim and work with someone of Zegras' talents, and he wouldn't have trusted him to center the top line after that benching if he didn't trust him.

Marner, Matthews, and Nylander weren't locked up to 8 years off their ELC either, were they not seen as part of TOR's core? How about Pastranak and Boston? Aho and Carolina? There's been plenty of star players over the years that didn't get locked up coming out of their ELCs, and there's already evidence that the trend of locking young players up long term can backfire, just look at the under performances by Buffalo and Ottawa this season. And another reason Verbeek was likely hesitant to lock Zegras up to a big deal is because he was the first one of the kids to get to that point, if he locks Zegras up, McTavish, Carlsson, Mintyukov, Gauthier, etc, etc are going to be looking at his deal as a benchmark. "But Terry got a 7x7" yeah, after he had been on a 3 year bridge deal too, he put in his time and showed what he could be before getting his big deal.

Your evidence that is "clear as a crystal ball" is the same as a teenage girl concocting a narrative that her boyfriend is cheating on her because he didn't respond to a text as fast as she expected and is therefore hiding something.

Did you listen to the piece at all? That was TSNs matchmaking piece, and Button said "IF Zegras were available, I would be calling Verbeek every day, maybe twice a day"

Button is not talking to Verbeek every day to check if Zegras is available. Button is working off the same rumor that everyone else is, that Frank Seravalli claims Zegras is available. Seravalli also said Gibson would never suit up again for Anaheim back at the start of the season, and has been bringing up Gibson's trade every off season for years now. He hates the Ducks because we never let any information slip so he can't be an "insider" He didn't know about Leo Carlsson even though it was being posted about on Reddit, he didn't know about the Gauthier trade, the guy has no inside sources for the team so he runs with the most minor whispers. His credibility is zero.